· Because they bargain collectively, union members earn 27% more than their non-union counterparts.
· A vast majority of union members are able to enjoy employer paid health care for themselves and their families. A small fraction of their non-union counterparts enjoy anything even close to the same coverage.
· Unions help local communities by generating more revenue for workers and that contributes to better schools, public works and other community programs.
· Earlier union members fought for many of the benefits we now take for granted. The eight-hour day, overtime pay, health care coverage, social security, occupational safety laws, workers’ compensation, minimum wage, retirement security, local living wage laws and unemployment insurance were unheard of until the advent and continuing efforts of the labor movement.
· During the American civil rights movement, union members stood side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was killed while he was supporting a Tennessee sanitation workers’ strike.
· Unions have been a strong advocate of the working family. Thanks to unions, workers have had the option of working stable hours-allowing them time to provide for family stability.
· Unions have been at the forefront of medical and family leave efforts that allow parents to stay home with their children or care for an elder.
· Today, the labor movement serves as a powerful voice for working families in the global economy.
· Unions are fighting outsourcing and the exploitation of cheap labor overseas while curbing abuses of part time and temporary labor here at home.
· The labor movement is also working to stop corporate attacks on the 40-hour work week and paid overtime while defending Social Security, Medicare and protecting the rights of patients against the abuses of managed care programs.